One of the most illustrious and among the most loved and admired industrialists Ratan Tata passed away on Wednesday night at a Mumbai hospital. Tata's death has cast the spotlight on Tata Trusts, which owns the $165 billion group, and his successor as the chairman of the largest philanthropic foundation in India.
Tata Trusts hold a 66 per cent stake in Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group and have wielded a lot of influence over the conglomerate over the years. Tata, who was the chairman of Tata Trusts, reportedly, did not designate a successor.
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Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust are the two main pillars of Tata Trusts, which carry out philanthropic activities in healthcare, nutrition, education, livelihood, environment, migration, skill development, sports, disaster relief, among other things.
The two trusts further comprise several foundations. For instance, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust's allied trusts include Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, Tata Education and Development Trust, Bai Hirabai JN Tata Navsari Charitable Foundation, and Sarvajanik Seva Trust.
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The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust includes the JN Endowment for the Higher Education of Indians, JRD Tata Trust, Jamsetji Tata Trust and four others.
In 2022-23, the Tata Trusts distributed around $56 million in grants, according to their annual report.
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The overall functioning of the Tata Trusts is looked after by an executive committee under the chairmanship of Tata. TVS Group's Venu Srivinasan and former defence secretary Vijay Singh are currently the vice-chairmen.
Srinivasan, Singh, businessman Mehli Mistry, Tata's half brother Noel Naval Tata and lawyer Darius Khambata are the trustees common across Sir Ratan Tata and Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts. The other trustees include Jimmy Tata, Jehangir Hospital CEO Jehangir HC Jehangir at Sir Ratan Tata Trust and former Citi India head Pramit Jhaveri at Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
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These trustees will now have to select a new chairman of Tata Trusts. Can one of the vice-chairmen—Srinivasan or Singh—become the chairman? That is, perhaps, an unlikely scenario, considering that historically someone from the Tata family or at least a Parsi has headed the trusts.
The 67-year-old Noel Tata then could have a high chance of becoming the chairman. There hasn't been any official word from Tata Trusts on this yet. The final decision on who is appointed the chairman will be eventually decided through a consensus among the trustees.
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The fact that he belongs to the Tata family will certainly go well within the Parsi community, should he be appointed chairman. His decades-long association with the Tata Group will be an added advantage.
Noel has been a trustee on the board of Sir Ratan Tata Trust since 2019 and Dorabji Tata Trust since 2022. He is also the chairman of Tata International, Voltas, Tata Investment Corporation and is the vice-chairman of Titan and Tata Steel. Noel, who graduated from Sussex University in the UK and has completed the International Executive Programme from INSEAD remains the chairman of Tata Group's retail arm Trent.
